raleigh

my weekend looked like this.

i headed down to raleigh to visit julie and colby on friday morning. it was a bit of a rough trip, as i encountered major traffic delays due to an accident involving two semi's that had caught fire/exploded/gotten eaten up by flames of some sort, and received my second speeding ticket in 3 weeks.

what is particularly annoying about this is that i have not had a speeding ticket in years and years, well over a decade. AND it's freaking 95! people were passing me going much faster than i was going (81 in a 65) and yet, i am the one that gets pulled over. my traffic karma is screwed up.

the highlight of the drive down was stopping at sonic in fredericksburg, where i enjoyed a strawberry limeade, chocolate cream pie shake (imagine a chocolate cream pie, crust and all, shoved into a cup and mixed together), and a chili cheeseburger. this would be the first of many sonic stops throughout the weekend!

i eventually made it to julie's an hour behind schedule, and the chilling commenced. i promised lots of pictures, and there are a few, but we didn't do anything particularly exciting. and it was kind of great. i got to do a lot of playing with madison (almost 3) and coooper (about 5 mos.) and thoroughly enjoyed that. madison was absolutely darling, and i really got to see her personality on this trip. she's quite a snuggle bunny as well, so i got lots of madison love.

saturday consisted of a slow start to the morning, a little bit of shopping, a drive through the nc state campus (where colby is currently working) and a stop at nearby pullen park. pullen park is quite cute. technically it is the 14th oldest amusement park in the world, and it has some interesting history to it.

the 'rides' currently consist of a miniature train that circles the park, a boat ride for kids, and a carousel. the carousel is circa 1900, and is one of 23 remaining dentzel carousels and one of 14 dentzel menageries still operating in north america. the music is provided by a wurlitzer organ which dates back from 1900 to 1924. the carousel is now on the national register of historic places.

after the park, it was back home for dinner. the magee's joined our cookout, so it was a full house. nathan and wendy used to live here (i went to high school with nathan), but recently bought the house next door to colby and julie. yes--colby and nathan are very good friends.

after stuffing ourselves with burgers, we retired to the family room, and dazed out in front of the tv. madison and i spent some time playing with her magnetic book (we spent a LOT of time over the weekend doing this), and finally it was time to call it a night.

we lazily woke up sunday morning, and had breakfast before i had to get ready for church. i had decided to stop in the raleigh singles ward before heading home. i met a really cute girl there who was very friendly, and made sure that i was appropriately welcomed.

after sacrament, it was time to head home. thanks to the current nasty storm system, traffic was a nightmare yet again. but i finally made it home safely.

all in all, the time in nc was a great way to get my mind off the upcoming event and just relax. it was exactly what the doctor ordered.